Nearly all multi-story buildings are required to have fire prevention systems installed. Such fire prevention systems include water lines and sprinklers which, in the event of the detection of a fire, can distribute large volumes of water in the vicinity of a fire. Such fire prevention systems are particularly of importance in multi-story buildings because, in the event of a fire, there may not be an easy way for firefighters at ground level to get several stories up before the fire has had a chance to spread.
However, it is also often the case that multi-story buildings are not well-equipped to accommodate the drainage of such large volumes of water, especially above ground level. In many instances, if the building includes one or more elevators, then the water provided by the fire prevention system collects on the floors above ground level and may have a tendency to flow down the elevator shaft. Because there is the possibility that both the elevator car and other equipment may exist between the floor and the elevator pit, water drainage into the elevator shaft is to be avoided.
Some drainage systems have been developed to address this problem. See e.g., PCT International Publication No. WO 98/22381 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,800,226. Such systems generally route water laterally into vertical pipes to limit the amount of water entering the open elevator shaft.